The Snow Prince
by FightForLife
Summary: Once her winter finally thawed, Elsa thought that everything would be okay... Sadly, she was wrong. Nightmares and anxieties haunt her whenever she closes her eyes, and no matter what, she can't shake the feeling of loneliness that hangs over her head, knowing she's the only person of her kind in all of Arendelle. But this is before she hears that name - "Jack Frost". [Jelsa]
1. Chapter One: Imagination

Elsa opened her eyes onto a familiar sight – the palace's largest ballroom, covered in ice from floor to ceiling. This was where everything began; her distance from her sister, her problems controlling her powers, her battle with fear. But now, even though all those things were over, the sight of the place they started from still haunted her.

"Not this dream again."

She sighed and listened to her words echo against the castle walls. Every night for weeks she'd been visiting this place in her sleep. It was always this same room, with the same etchings of ice scrawled across the walls, and the same cold darkness filling the air. And the same things always happened, too.

She looked to her left, where, on cue, a figure stepped out of the darkness. It was her sister, Anna – but she wasn't smiling like she usually did. She stared at Elsa with emotionless eyes. The queen bit her lip and reached out to the girl, hoping that maybe this time the dream would be different than before… but no. When she touched her, she turned to ice.

Elsa stepped back from her sister, into another person – this time, her sister's lover, Kristoff – and sure enough, as soon as her back bumped against his chest, the man froze completely. Elsa whirled around in surprise and stared at what she'd done.

"I'm… I'm sorry! I didn't mean to…" The woman stuttered out. For some reason, she felt that if she apologized, something would change - but there was no one left to hear her words.

Feeling the guilt and terror set in, she ran from the two and into the ballroom. However, the second she closed her eyes, she felt another body hit her – her steward, a man who had practically raised her. When she stepped back from him, she fell into his wife, her maid. She pushed herself away and ran to the door, but before she could even touch it, it flew open, and through it came dozens of people. Her loving citizens; women, children, fathers and elders, dignitaries and servants, all of them dropping like flies as they reached out to touch their Queen.

"No… No, stop it! Stop it, what are you doing?! Stop it!" Elsa screamed, running from them and back into the hall. She passed the frozen statues of her sister and Kristoff and ran up the stairs, going further and further into the palace until she arrived at her bedroom, where she threw herself against the door and pushed back against it to stop anyone from coming in. But even though she was pushing, there was nothing pushing back. No one was chasing her.

"_Well, what're you going to do now, Snow Queen?" _A low voice whispered. The room grew darker and darker, the ice around her slowly turning black.

"_The ones that get close to you, you hurt. And the ones that want to, you run from. So which is better? Doom the people you love to keep them near you, or let them live and die alone yourself?"_

"No… No, this isn't real! I won't hurt anyone! I've learned to control my powers – this isn't real! It's not real!" She buried her head in her hands and covered her ears, curling into a ball, but there was no way to escape from the voice.

"_Learned to control them? Oh, your Majesty. Whether or not they're controlled, they're there. There's nobody like you in all of Arendelle… nobody like you in the entire world. You're all alone. And keeping people close to you so desperately, despite you being so different? That's what will doom them. Not your powers."_

Ice started crawling up her legs, and she felt her body burn as frostbite took hold. The voice grew stronger and stronger as she continued to freeze, until there was nothing but ice and the sound of the man.

"_All alone, Snow Queen. All alone."_

Elsa gasped and pushed herself out of bed. Her platinum hair flew around her in a haze as she shot up, settling into a messy heap on her head. She was breathing hard and staring into her room, eyes wide, one hand clutching her chest. Then, once she saw that the room was clear – not a speck of black ice to be found – she calmed down, letting her hand drop back against the sheets.

"Every single time… I know the dream's coming, but I'm still surprised. Stupid." She brought her hand back up to run it through her hair, pushing it away from her face, and then slowly got out of bed. Morning sunlight shone through her window happily, and she smiled as it hit her skin. Another beautiful summer day in Arendelle… There wouldn't be many more of these left this year, so she had to treasure them while she could.

It had been a month since she had returned to Arendelle and taken her place as Queen, and the summer season was quickly drawing to a close. She could feel the air getting cooler already, and though she hadn't seen it yet, she was sure that any day now the green trees that surrounded their kingdom would be speckled with orange and red. Autumn was a beautiful season, so she was looking forward to it – even though she knew her little sister would be moping around and mourning the loss of summer.

"Oh well. She'll just have to deal with it – after all, there's always next year." The woman said to herself as she walked to her mirror. She took one look, lifted her hands into the air, and _whoosh_ – covered her dress with frost and snow. The ice felt good against her skin, and helped wake her up a little bit more, too. The dream still worried her, of course, but she put it away. She had things to do. And just like Anna couldn't spend forever whining about no more summer fun, she couldn't spend forever fearing a nightmare she didn't even understand.

Satisfied, the Queen walked out of her door and down the stairs, heading for the dining room to get some breakfast before she had to start the day. _I wonder what Louis made today… _She thought, staring ahead blankly as she felt her stomach rumble.

Little did she know, Anna was watching her from around the corner - preparing for a sneak attack bear hug the likes of which Elsa had never seen. Seeing that her sister's head was in the clouds, she grinned mischievously and, with a panther-like pounce, glomped the girl from behind.

"Good morning, Elsa!"

"EEK!"

Elsa shrieked as she felt the girl touch her, a flashback from her dream flitting through her mind. She stepped forward to run away and ended up tripping over her dress, tumbling to the floor, and taking her little sister with her.

"Oof!"

"ACK! Geez, Elsa!"

As Elsa fell forward, Anna fell right on top of her, rolling away just in time to make it so she didn't crush her elder sister against the floor. However, in her attempt to do so, she'd twisted herself so awkwardly that she was now curled like a pretzel at the base of Elsa's feet. As the Queen pushed herself back up and turned to see what happened, she saw her pretzel sister and groaned.

"Anna… Don't surprise me like that!"

Anna puffed out her lip in a pout and rubbed a sore spot on her leg. "Well, excuse me, Queen Grumpy. Didn't know you were allergic to hugs."

At this, Elsa couldn't help but laugh, and reached out a hand to help her sister up. "I'm not allergic to them… let's just say I'm _averse _to them. Particularly before eight o' clock in the morning."

Anna took the girl's hand and sprung up beside her, dusting off her dress once she was planted firmly on her own two feet. "But it's never too early for hugs!" She said with a grin.

Elsa giggled again. "Maybe for you, it's not."

The two began to walk to breakfast, exchanging small talk along the way. Before, even this tiny bit of conversation with her sister would have made Elsa nervous - but now that some time had passed, and she'd gotten more used to talking to the other girl again, she was doing just fine. More than fine, actually; she loved talking to her sister. She'd always regretted the distance she'd made between them, and getting to have such fun with her now only served to remind her of how wrong she'd been.

Once they reached the dining room, they found that they'd made it just in time for the beginning of breakfast, and decided to sit across from one another as they ate. It was remarkable how the two never ran out of things to talk about – there wasn't a single gap in conversation. Well, unless you count the breaks that Anna took to breathe or chew. And once breakfast was over, they continued to speak, even as Elsa got up to check her schedule for the day with her steward.

She wouldn't need him, though – as soon as they were in the hall, Anna's grin grew wide, and she looked to the other girl in newfound excitement. "Hey, I just remembered! Today's Open Court Day!"

Elsa paused for a second, her smile becomingly awkwardly crooked. Then, she eased herself into a smaller, more regal smile, and looked at Anna out of the corner of her eye. "For it being your favorite day of the week, you sure forget when it is pretty easily."

Anna kicked at her sister's skirt childishly. "You forgot too, didn't you?"

The girl smirked. "More like I shut it out of my mind."

"Oh come on. It's not that bad! You'll get used to it eventually."

The Queen stood still for a moment. Then, she sighed. "I hope so, Anna. I really do."

Anna's eyebrows pinched up in worry, and she frowned for her sister. Then, she smiled again. "You will! For sure."

Open Court Day was a weekly event that was another one of the Arendelle royalty's obligations toward their people – once a week, the royal court would be open to anyone who wanted to speak to the ruler in command. Of course, the gates were always open for people to visit the palace - Elsa had stayed true to her word when she told Anna that they'd never be closing them again - but the Princess and Queen were always so busy that even with the castle's numerous visitors, there was no time for them to actually talk with their subjects. Unless, of course, they came to talk on Open Court Day. It was set aside especially for the people to communicate with their government. They could say anything they wanted, from requesting that the crown lend them assistance on building a new farm to just idly chatting about the weather. It had been an Arendelle tradition for years, even before the "eternal winter" fiasco, though they'd been held outside of the palace in order to keep Elsa hidden away. The former King and Queen had taken to holding them in a popular tavern in town, and then when they passed away, the Duke of Arendelle held them in the same place. But now, _she _was in command. So they were held at _her _palace. And it was _her_ royal obligation to spend the day listening to her subjects, and receiving them with grace.

Anna was always excited when Open Court Day came around because she got to see so many people all at once, and because she got to hear so many different stories from around the kingdom. Elsa, however, found it more terrifying than exciting.

It wasn't that she didn't like talking to her subjects – on the contrary, she was happy to see that they actually even wanted to talk to _her_. But though the idea that her subjects had come just to see her made her happy, it was also what made Open Court Day so nerve wracking. All these people walked up to her, some to ask for help, some for conversation, all of them wanting something from her and expecting her to be able to give it. She did want to give it to them. She wanted to be what they expected of her so much! But she couldn't help but think that she wasn't. She wasn't as interesting as they thought she was, or as beautiful or as powerful, and she left every Open Court Day feeling disappointed.

And lonely.

Because, for as many people that came to see her in that courtyard, not a single one of them was like her.

She knew that it didn't matter if she had powers and no one else did – Anna never stopped telling her that she loved her no matter what, and that their subjects did too, and that she had family and loved ones all around her. But what that voice had said weighed heavy on her mind.

"_There's nobody like you in all of Arendelle… nobody like you in the entire world."_

"_All alone, Snow Queen. All alone."_

And that's all she could think about as she sank into her throne and began to receive visitors – the beginning of yet another Open Court Day.

In the chair beside her, Elsa could hear Anna yawn. It was ten hours later, and the sun was starting to set.

Elsa looked to her sister with a small, smug smile. "I thought you loved Open Court Day."

"Hm? Oh yea, I do. Of course I do." She stretched out her aching legs. "But at this rate, it'll be Open Court _Night_, too."

Throughout the course of the day, Anna and Elsa together had received over two hundred visitors from across the land. Many were from the farther reaches of Arendelle, and had made a trip into the capitol especially for the purpose of speaking to the Queen – they were usually the ones who had important requests for the crown about assisting with their land, or sometimes even assisting their entire town. Then there were the locals, who just stopped by to chat. They treated the weekly Open Court like a sort of holiday, and were proud at their chance to regularly talk with their Queen. And then there were the children - the curious, innocent gawkers eager to get a glimpse of the woman who could cover an entire kingdom in snow and ice with just a wave of her hand. These were the guests that Anna loved the most, and Elsa feared the most. Anna loved them because… well, kids. Elsa feared them because, while it's one thing to disappoint an adult, disappointing a child was a million times worse.

The line was almost completely gone – all that was left of the week's Open Court Day visitors were three men and a small girl. Once they saw it was their turn, the three men immediately ran to Anna's chair and began to chat her up. Elsa couldn't help but laugh, imagining what Kristoff would do if he were there - but then, the sight of the fourth and final visitor caught her eye.

As said before, Elsa was actually a little afraid of the children that would visit, so seeing the little girl, complete with big doe eyes and mousey brown pigtails, made her gulp. But, for the sakes of her kingdom and sating this child's curiosity, she still put on her most gentle smile and got down off her throne, crouching to meet the girl at eye level.

"Hello little one. What's your name?"

The girl was staring at her in awe, but through her amazement still managed to get out her words. "My name is Heidi. My papa and I just moved here, from Corona."

"Well, welcome to Arendelle, Heidi! Corona is a lovely kingdom, but we're happy to have you here." With a tiny smile, she held out her hand to shake. "My name is Elsa."

Heidi's eyes widened as she looked down at the woman's hand. "I won't freeze if I touch you?"

Elsa stopped, drawing her hand back. Her mind went blank.

"What… What did you say?"

Seeing her reaction, Heidi's nervousness grew, and she looked to her feet. "B…Because… They call you the Snow Queen… I thought that…" She choked up, afraid, and let out a small whine.

Elsa snapped back at the sound, realizing what she'd done. _You idiot. She didn't mean anything by it. How could she possibly know about your dream? You're going to make the kid cry! _

The Queen's eyes became tender as she smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, Heidi. Please don't be upset. Let me explain."

Heidi looked back up and sniffed as Elsa took a step back. Then the woman drew her hand out from her side, held it in the air, and snapped. As she did, a shot of snow escaped from her hand, and a large, crystal snowflake materialized and hovered above her palm. Heidi's eyes got even wider (if that was possible), and her jaw dropped in surprise. Elsa gave a crooked grin.

"They do call me the Snow Queen, but I can't freeze people. I_ can_ do this, though."

"Wow! So pretty!"

The woman chuckled. "I'm glad you think so."

Elsa lowered her arm and placed the snowflake into the girl's hands, giving it a small flurry so that it could float for Heidi like it had for her. Heidi grinned, mesmerized, and in her mind, Elsa breathed a sigh of relief. _Dodged a bullet with that one. _

"So you're just like Jack Frost, then?"

Elsa looked down and blinked. "Hm?"

Heidi glanced away from her snowflake for a moment to look at her queen. "You're just like Jack Frost."

Elsa's smile grew wry. _I guess she has an imaginary friend. _"Who is Jack Frost?"

At the question, Heidi turned her attention to the Queen fully, and her face began to glow with happiness and excitement. "Jack Frost is the Snow Prince!"

Elsa's eyebrows raised, and she gave a small laugh. "The Snow Prince, huh?"

Heidi nodded. "Yeah! He helps bring winter and plays with the kids and paints pretty frost pictures all over the glass! And with his crook he rides winter winds and he can make ice come out of his hands!"

Elsa's eyes shined as she listened to Heidi talk. "He sounds very nice."

"He is!"

"Well, why is he the Snow Prince and not the Snow King?"

Heidi rolled her eyes, as if the answer were obvious. "Well, he's _only _seventeen. You can't be king at seventeen." Suddenly remembering something, she gasped, and then looked up to Elsa with deadly seriousness. "Oh, but you can't tell him I call him the Snow Prince. He doesn't like it."

_This kid is actually pretty cute, huh? _Elsa thought with a laugh. It made her happy that Heidi had made an imaginary friend with ice powers; one of Elsa's biggest worries was that she was still feared, and knowing that ice was something magical to this girl set her at ease more than you could imagine - especially after she almost scared her off earlier. She put her hand on her heart and bowed her head with a grin. "If I see him, I won't say a word."

"Good. Thank you, Elsa!" The lass gave another toothy smile, then shook her monarch's hand and began to skip away.

"Ah, wait!" The woman called. She was a little bit surprised at the sudden departure. "Didn't you have something you wanted to ask?"

Heidi stopped and turned her head. "No! I just wanted to see what you were like, so I could tell Jack. He doesn't usually go places where there's no snow, but when I told him I was moving he said he'd stop by to see me. And then when I heard that the Queen of Arendelle was called the Snow Queen… I'm sure he'll be interested to meet you!"

One of Elsa's eyebrows raised in confusion. "Meet me?"

"Yup! When I tell him about this, I'm sure he'll come and see you, too!"

Then she bolted, skipping down the street and holding tight to her snowflake with a brilliant smile on her face. Elsa straightened up and looked at her in bewilderment, putting her hands on her hips. _Yea, she is a cute kid… but a pretty strange one, too. I wonder if she realizes nobody else can see her imaginary friend yet. _She looked up at the setting sun in the distance. _Well, it's none of my business. _

_Still, though… Snow Prince?_

"Elsa! Looks like we're done for the day." Anna called, jogging up and giving her sibling a tap on the shoulder. Behind her, Elsa could see her three gentlemen callers walking off in a slump, shoulders all hunched and dragging their feet. She could guess why they were so depressed – most likely, Anna had just spent the last five minutes gushing to them about how wonderful she thought Kristoff was. The thought made Elsa laugh.

"Alright, let's head inside, then. I'm beat."

As the two made their way back into the palace, Anna noticed Heidi running off in the distance. "That was your last visitor?"

"Yep. Her name was Heidi. She and her father just moved here from Corona."

"And what did she want?"

Elsa's eyes looked into the distance wistfully, a ghost of a smile on her face. "She wanted to see what I was like, so she could tell her imaginary friend."

Anna grinned. "Really? How cute!"

"Yea, I thought so too."

"So?" The redhead continued curiously as they reached the castle doors. "Who was this imaginary friend?"

Elsa reached out and grabbed the door's handle – but, just before she went inside, turned around. She was just in time to see Heidi's back, and the shimmer of the snowflake, disappear around the corner.

"She called him 'Jack Frost'."

That night, Heidi lay awake in bed. Around her were crates and satchels of her unpacked things, and the bright, crystal snowflake she'd received from Queen Elsa shining brightly on her nightstand. She held the top of her blanket in both hands and looked to the window eagerly. Then, what she was waiting for finally appeared – a flower of frost unfurling on her windowpane.

Heidi grinned and ran to the wall, throwing the window up. The curtains fluttered, and then, in a flash of cold, a boy landed crouched on her window sill.

"Jack! You really came! I have so much to tell you!"

His white hair shined in the moonlight as he flicked it to the side, away from his sharp, blue eyes. A tiny grin broke out against his face.

"Oh, really? About what?"

"About the house, and papa's new job, and the town, and, and… oh! And Elsa!"

He stepped into the room, placing one bare foot against the floor, ice decorating the wood as soon as his skin touched the ground. As he entered, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye – the glowing snowflake.

"Elsa?"


	2. Chapter Two: Belief

Thanks to the wisdom of some ancient Arendelle legislators, Open Court Day was on Saturday. This meant that the next day was Sunday, which, due to old religious principles, was considered a day of rest. And though it usually went unnoticed, this was a huge blessing for the people of Arendelle – and their monarchs, too. Since the country's "day off" was on Sunday, the people that had been standing in line for hours on Open Court Day the Saturday before could spend some time lying in bed, off their poor, aching feet – and the royalty (that had spent just as much time answering questions and dealing with their subject's problems as said subjects had spent standing) could have a much needed break for their own ailments; namely, their sore, aching throats.

And nobody thanked the stars for this convenience more than Elsa, who was currently rushing down the stairs with a grin, eager to find a certain redheaded girl… Because even though she was pretty tired from holding the Open Court, Sunday's were the Queen's rest day, too – and nine times out of ten, she spent them with Anna.

Sitting in a rigid throne all day and being nervous about chatting with commoners were small prices to pay if she could have a whole day just for playing with her sister.

Once she reached the bottom of the stairs, she stopped, remembering their incident from yesterday. Slowly, she turned around and checked the corner – then, once she saw it was clear, breathed a sigh of relief and continued on toward the dining room. However, when she got there, it was empty. Well, empty of her sister, anyway - servants fluttered about preparing for the morning's meal, each giving a small bow to their Queen as they passed. Elsa greeted them all with a small wave of her hand and a smile, but as she did so, a tiny knot formed on her brow. Where could Anna be? While it was true that the girl wasn't really a morning person, she usually made an effort to be chipper and charming in time for breakfast. After all, her love of food far outweighed her hatred of mornings. Exiting the dining room, Elsa noticed a palace guard standing at attention nearby and walked over to him.

As he saw his Queen approach, the man stiffened up and gave a salute. "Good morning, your Majesty!"

Elsa smiled. "Good morning. Have you seen Princess Anna lately?"

"No, your Majesty."

Elsa frowned lightly, thinking. She was probably still in her room, then. _I hope she's not sick… They do say that idiots can catch colds in the summer, though, so there's a distinct possibility…._

"Y..Your Majesty?" The guard said nervously.

"Ah! Oh, my apologies." The woman said with an anxious laugh. She'd gotten lost in her thoughts again – she _had _to stop doing that. She bowed her head lightly. "Thank you for your time. Keep up the good work."

"Yes, your Majesty!"

Elsa gave a small smirk, noting that "your Majesty" seemed to be this guard's favorite phrase, and walked back into the palace and up the staircase once again. She walked through the halls, passing dozens of doors, and as her mind began to wander again, she wondered what kind of room each door held. She couldn't remember having ever gone in them. But this was the same hall that most of the castle's bedrooms were in, so that was probably what they were, right? Oh, never mind. Anna would know. It was funny, but sometimes she had trouble finding her way in her own palace... after all, though she'd lived her entire life there, she'd spent most of that time in only one room. Almost all of the rest were foreign to her, and it was very easy for her to get confused with all their halls and staircases. However, the path to her and her sister's rooms was one that she could always remember, so it took only five minutes to reach Anna's room. Then, once there, she reached out to knock on the door - but before she could, heard Anna singing gaily from the other side.

"La da da, dee da dum, play the flute and bang the drums! Clap clap clap, jump jump jump, sing for joy when summer comes!"

Elsa pulled back her hand and held it against her mouth, stifling a laugh. What was she doing, just dancing to herself in her bedroom? Actually, that probably was what she was doing. The woman allowed herself one quiet giggle when she thought of the sight.

"Ya ta ta, prum prum prum, grab your lass and grab your son, clap clap clap –"

"Knock knock knock?" Elsa said jokingly as she tapped against the door. From behind the wood she could hear Anna's voice screech to a halt - then footsteps, and the door swung open to reveal a tomato red, madly blushing Anna.

"Good morning, Elsa." She mumbled with an embarrassed smile.

The Queen grinned. "Good morning, songbird."

Anna huffed and walked inside, Elsa following close behind. "I have nothing to be ashamed of. It's not like I'm a bad singer or anything. In fact, my voice is fantastic!"

"And loud." Her sister added.

Anna gave a nervous laugh and walked to her mirror. "Yea, and that, too."

Elsa smiled. However, as she stood in the middle of the room, she noticed that there was something different about her sister today. That dress she was wearing was a new one, and it was in a considerably more modern style than most of her clothes. Plus, her hair was pulled up in a bun, and now she was leaning over her jewelry box and looking in the mirror as she put on small, emerald earrings.

"What're you getting all dressed up for?" The woman asked, curious and confused.

Anna spoke to the side as she focused on the mirror. "Don't be silly, you _know _what I'm 'all dressed up' for."

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Actually, I don't."

"What're you talking about, of course you – ouch!" As she turned her head to respond to her sister's talking, Anna's hand slipped from its course, stabbing herself in the ear.

"Anna!?" Elsa shot up and ran to the mirror.

"I'm fine, I'm fine – I just missed. Your fault, chatterbox." She said with a crooked, joking grin.

Elsa smiled nervously. "I'm sorry."

"Seriously, I'm fine! I was just kidding, it's not _really _your fault. Now, back to what we were…. Oh!"

"What? Did you get yourself again?"

"No! I just remembered!" Putting her earring down, Anna turned to her sister, her face twisting with guilt.

It surprised Elsa. She stepped back, looking down at the girl cautiously. "What did you just remember?"

"That I forgot to tell you! Ugh, I am so so sooo sorry, Elsa!" She whined, grabbing her sister's hand and looking up at her as she apologized.

The woman frowned, her stare growing cold. "Sorry for _what?_"

"I have a date with Kristoff today! I was going to tell you at breakfast yesterday, but it completely slipped my mind!" She bit her lip and held tighter onto the woman's hand.

Elsa paused. That _would _explain the giddy singing… and the dress, the hair, and pretty much everything else she'd noticed was out of the ordinary that morning. A pang of disappointment shot through her as she wrote off their plans for the day. Then, she sighed, putting on a weary smile and taking her hand away from the other girl's.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it."

Anna looked down, ashamed. "But I should've told you… I'm sorry…"

The Queen laughed. "It's okay, really! I actually have some treatises I need to review today, so it's fine."

"Elsa…"

"It really is, Anna. Have fun with Kristoff – you look beautiful." And the Queen put on her biggest, brightest, fakest grin.

Anna could tell it was fake – obviously – and she wasn't about to pretend that she couldn't. "It's not fine," she said with a frown. "It was irresponsible of me, and I feel awful, and I'm really, really, really sorry!" She pulled Elsa into a hug. "Next Sunday, I swear – just you and me. I promise!"

Elsa was shocked by the sudden hug… but she was glad that Anna had given it. The girl put her arms around her sister in return and laughed again, letting herself be a bit more genuine this time.

"Alright. Next Sunday." She broke the hug and gave her sister a real smile, a smile that said that she really was happy the girl would get to be with the one she loved.

When Anna saw that, she felt better – if only a little bit. So she stepped back, put in her final earring, and grabbed her satchel. "I'll be back before sunset, okay?"

Elsa's smile turned sardonic. "If you aren't, I'll turn Kristoff into an icicle."

Anna finally let out a smile of her own. "I would actually prefer it if you didn't freeze my boyfriend, but…"

A flash of Kristoff's frozen face from her nightmare ran through the Snow Queen's mind.

"…thanks for looking out for me, sis."

With a tiny chuckle, she punched Anna on the shoulder. "That's what I'm here for."

And with that, the girl beamed, skipped out of the room, and shut the door with finality behind her.

Once she was alone, Elsa looked out the window and sighed. "Well, there goes my Sunday." She brought up a hand to run through her hair, letting it trail along the back of her head and tangle in her braid. Of course she was upset that Kristoff was stealing her sister for the day, and that the girl had forgotten to tell her… but she knew that being with Kristoff made Anna happy. And the last thing she wanted to do was stand in the way of her loved one's happiness. Especially considering…

"_Doom the people you love to keep them near you, or let them live and die alone yourself?" _The voice in her mind repeated. She closed her eyes and shook it away.

"No, no, no. No time for that." She rubbed her temples and opened her eyes again, staring intently out the window. A sad smile stretched across her face. "I have treatises to review, remember?"

The girl got up and slid her hands along her shimmering dress, as if to wipe away her silly feelings. She turned and headed for the door. However, before she opened it, she took one more look at the window – and saw a tiny tendril of frost curling across the bottom corner of the pane.

Elsa froze. _Wait. I didn't do that… did I?_

Slowly walking back to the window, she held her hands behind her back, an attempt to distance her own powers from the ice on the glass. _Maybe it's just a crack in the frame, or a smudge, somewhere the window washers forgot to hit…_

But no. She knew what frost looked like, and it was this, this tiny wisp of crystal.

Plus, the wisp was growing.

The Snow Queen watched in shock as more frost spread across the space, curling and twisting and growing from the place it began. Soon the entire window was covered, displaying an array of beautiful, snowy art.

She had to step back to look at it all – and when she did, she noticed something.

The woman hadn't been able to see it from close up, but from this angle, it was clear – there was an arrow pointing left inscribed in the ice.

Elsa ran out of the room and into the hall, where the windows opposite her sister's room were all quickly growing the same white patterns, each one inscribing an arrow that was pointing in the direction the other had been. Eyes growing wide, she dashed through the halls, following the arrows where they led.

_I'm not doing this. This isn't me. There's someone else here!_

Her breathing grew heavy as she ran, until finally, she reached the last window – one that was next to a servant's entrance that led to the back of the palace. However, the arrow on this one was pointing up – it was telling her to go outside.

Collecting herself, Elsa took a second to breathe, and then pushed open the door. Outside of it, there was nothing but a grassy clearing. Nobody was there to greet her; at least, nobody she could see.

"Alright… No more windows, stranger. What'll you do now?" She said to herself. She half expected that there would be no answer – that this really was just her powers getting out of control again, or her subconscious messing with her or something. But when she looked down at the green, summer grass, she got her sign. A trail of frost began to grow there, too.

Her heart fluttered in her chest as she gave a wicked grin. This stranger was playing games… But they were a stranger like her. With powers like her_. _She watched the trail grow and ran after it, arms pumping wildly at her sides. Sometimes the trail would mess with her, spinning in circles or running up trees, but all she had to do was step back and laugh at the silliness of it all and it would keep moving, leading her through the woods and around the castle.

Then, it stopped. Elsa's breath caught in her throat as she reached the end of the trail – it had finished right in the center of the palace garden. For a moment she was afraid that the person had left, or that something had happened to make them stop. Had she done something wrong? Her brow turned up in worry as she whirled around, looking from left to right. But the person was still there – she felt a cold wind hit her in the back. Giving another laugh, Elsa turned around again to look for the source of the breeze. Still no one there.

"Where are you?" She called excitedly. Another wind flickered at the hem of her dress. "Hey!" She laughed.

"Why are you hiding? Talk to me!"

She swore she could hear something speak behind her, but when she turned, it was just the crackling of more frost crawling across a tree.

"Who are you?"

Suddenly, the frost sped up. It covered the tree completely, turning its leaves to crystal. Elsa furrowed her brow. The frost kept growing and growing, stretching out into the rest of the garden. When she looked down to her feet, it was spreading across the cobblestones beneath her, and when she looked up it was latching onto the marble at a nearby fountain.

Frost…

_"So you're just like Jack Frost, then?"_

Elsa's jaw fell open. "No… It couldn't be."

When she said this, the frost grew whiter, almost shining, and the water in the fountain completely froze over, as if whoever it was doing this was urging her to a conclusion.

"Jack… Frost?"

"YES!"

A voice rang through the space on her right. Elsa turned, and for the first time, noticed someone else in her garden. It was a boy, standing on a branch of the frost covered tree. He was cheering to himself, pumping his fists in the air and grinning like mad, showing off his brilliant white smile. In fact, everything about him was brilliant white; his hair, his skin, and the layer of frost on his tall shepherd's crook.

_And with his crook he rides winter winds…_

"I did it! I did it! YES!"

Elsa stared at the boy in surprise. "You're… You're Jack Frost?"

He stopped cheering, remembering that she was there. His grin grew even wider, and in a flash he flew down from the tree, causing Elsa to jump in surprise.

"You can see me now, right? You can hear me?"

"I… Yes?"

"ALRIGHT!"

A burst of air thrust him into the sky and pushed Elsa back as her eyes followed him upwards. She watched him cheer without being able to say anything – she really had no clue what was in front of her.

"I _knew _I could do it!"

He went on like that, hooting and hollering, and Elsa couldn't help the smile that was slowly returning to her face. But when Jack suddenly remembered her again, and flew down in front of her – literally right in front of her, as he landed himself only inches away from her face – the smile dropped.

"You're Elsa, right?" He said, eyes looking her up and down with wonder.

"Um... yea."

"Oh, uh, sorry." At her awkward reaction, he finally realized how close he was standing and moved back, catching hold of another breeze and throwing himself into the air. Once there, he grabbed on to the side of the tree once more. "I'm just, y'know. Freakin' _excited._"

She smirked. "Looks like it."

The boy laughed, swinging from his side of the tree to the other, then, stepping gracefully onto the ground.

"Heidi told me about you. Well, she told me that she told you about me. So when I heard it, I thought, maybe I could… and I did! I did it!"

"You did what?"

He walked closer to her, shaking his crook in one hand like it held her answer.

"I got you to believe in me!"


	3. Chapter Three: Fun

Jack Frost first met Heidi Dalgaard on the girl's fifth birthday – a cold, blustery December Ninth two ago. He had been wandering around spreading frost as he usually did… but unlike usual, he was in an awful mood. It had been forty-five years since he first awoke, since he first opened his eyes onto the night sky and felt the cold ice of a frozen lake against his back. But since that moment, nobody could see him. Nobody could hear him. And the one person that he knew _could _communicate with him – the Man in the Moon - refused to, never speaking a word to the boy after telling him his name. It frustrated the Hell out of him; having people be effected by his winds but never knowing they were his, screaming at the moon like a crazy person without ever hearing an answer back, reaching out to children that just ran straight through him. Forty-five _years _of being ignored. He went through all his stages of grief like a good little boy, experiencing first denial, then anger, then bargaining and depression. But no matter what, he never reached acceptance. He was permanently stuck in that fourth stage. So, wallowing in self-pity, he'd whipped up a blizzard and cast it on Heidi's hometown, and was now sitting on yet another frozen lake and writing his name in the snow. Jack Frost. Over and over and over again, until the name lost all its meaning – not that it'd ever had any in the first place.

Jack hadn't expected anyone to go out in his blizzard. In fact, for what seemed like the first time in his life, the social, fun-loving boy had _wanted_ to be alone. However, Heidi had other plans. You see, she loved snow. So whenever it snowed as crazily as it was doing that day, she threw on her gloves, her hat, her boots, her overcoats (all three of them), and waddled outside and into the forest. But this time, she stumbled across a lake; a lake where one name was written dozens upon dozens of times, jumbled together in a pile of words and snow.

And for some miraculous, unknown reason, it clicked in her head. She knew in that instance, without any prior inclination, that there was a man named Jack Frost who played and wrote in the snow. She believed that Jack was real – and because of that, she saw him.

"_Jack Frost? Jack Frost, Jack Frost, Jack Frost…." The little girl said, squinting her eyes and reading through the snow. _

_Hearing her voice, the spirit jumped and whirled around, eyes wide. As he turned, Heidi looked up and blinked – noticing him with his finger pressed against the ground, caught in the middle of rewriting his name once again._

_She smiled. "You're Jack Frost?"_

"_You…. You can see me?"_

_She cocked her head. "How could I not?"_

Jack had never been happier.

All it took was that one little girl to completely shake him out of his depression – she became his best friend and sole source of relief. Of course, he couldn't tell her much about himself or his problems, considering she was _five_, but just being near someone who could see him and talk to him made him feel better. Every Winter day was an adventure when they were together, and he showed her the most fun a little girl could ever have. Of course, they couldn't be together all the time. He still had to spread frost, snow, and mischief around the rest of the world, and when it was Spring or Summer in Corona Heidi had other things she had to do. But they still got together whenever they could.

For some reason, though, Jack could never get anyone else to believe in him. He tried writing his name again, on children's windows or on trees, but whoever read it just seemed to glance once and move on. He played with kids indirectly, engaging in snowball fights and pushing their sleds down steep, winding hills, but they never looked his way. He had no clue why his belief seemed to be exclusive to Heidi… But he was out of his forty-five year funk, and a little thing like confusion wouldn't stop him now - especially when a child had finally started believing in him. He decided to buckle down, and from then on, really started trying.

So when he visited Heidi's new address for the first time, and she told him of a woman to whom she'd mentioned his name – well, there was another opportunity to try.

And he'd done it. He'd really done it! Of course, it wasn't easy – pretty much all that Heidi could tell him with her seven year old attention span was the woman's name, that she was a queen, and that she had an affinity for snow and ice pretty similar to his – but after flying around the kingdom's ridiculously large castle and looking through windows for what seemed like forever, he spotted someone. Or rather, two someones; a pair of girls. One redheaded, freckled and smiley, the other with the palest blonde hair and biggest blue eyes he'd ever seen. He flew to the window and hovered outside of it, and saw that it was a bedroom they were standing in – a pretty extravagant one, too. The kind only reserved for the highest of a kingdom's court. If they were allowed in that kind of bedroom, they were either servants there to clean or the royalty who lived there… their clothes were too well made to be servants, so one of them must've been the room's occupant; and likely, the Queen. But neither one was wearing a crown. How was he supposed to know which one it was? _Seriously, what kind of Queen doesn't wear a crown? _He thought and clicked his tongue.

"_I'll be back before sunset, okay?"_

"_If you aren't, I'll turn Kristoff into an icicle."_

The boy began to grin. There. Problem solved.

Catching her attention was easier than he'd thought it would be; most people didn't notice his little frosts growing here or there. If she'd left the room without his wisp catching her eye, she'd be down the hall before he could change location fast enough and he'd have to find a way to start all over again. But she did see it. And she watched it, and she followed his signs straight out the door. He'd hooked her. He could do this! His confidence grew, and when they got to the forest and he began the second part of his trail, he started to do what he did best – he started having fun. He twisted her around and pointed her in ridiculous directions, the sound of her laugh only making his excitement grow as they moved faster and faster, him floating invisibly above and her running to catch up from below. When they reached the garden, he stopped for a moment, watching her turn around and look for him. She was so close to believing in him that he could feel it. He was almost there! He flew around her in a circle, sending cool breezes to crawl down her back and play with the hem of her dress like a child. Her laugh was infectious, and he found himself chuckling right along with her as she looked down at her skirts.

"_Why are you hiding? Talk to me!"_

Jack thought for a moment. She must've heard his name once already, because of Heidi… But how to get her to know it was him?

He smirked. _Well, I'm not "Jack Frost" for nothing._

And that was what tipped her off. The frost. He put it everywhere; making it crawl through the garden like ivy up a brick wall, sitting on the branch of a tree and watching it unfurl left and right. The girl was looking around. She was so, so close.

"Come on… Come on…" Jack mumbled to himself, watching her intently.

"_No… It couldn't be."_

"Yes! Yes it could! It is! You've got it, you've got it!" He grabbed tight to his staff and pushed it in against the tree. The glow of the frost was so bright, it almost matched the sun.

And with this, Jack Frost got himself another believer.

Now, Elsa watched as the boy across from her held out his crook and grinned. _"I got you to believe in me!"_

She furrowed her brow, confused. "I… I'm not sure what you mean…"

"Ah!" He exclaimed, grin cracking a bit and falling awkwardly. He took his crook back and used it to scratch his head, putting his other hand against his hip and looking away from the girl, realizing how little sense his words were making. Of course he couldn't explain the whole belief concept right off the bat –the last thing he wanted was for her to get skeptical about it and suddenly not believe in him anymore, especially after he'd come so far. "Well, never mind. Not important. Well, actually, it's _really _important, but not too important right now. What's important right now iiiisss…." He drew out his last word, thinking of what to say. Then, when he found it, his grin returned once more and he looked back to the girl.

"Introductions!"

Elsa gave a tiny smirk. She had no idea where this boy had come from, or why he seemed so excited, or why he said half of the things he did… but even if she didn't understand these things, there was one thing she definitely did understand. He had powers, like her. The way he flew about and the state of her garden was evidence enough of that. _Flying… I wonder if I can do that? Well, I've never really tried, but it shouldn't be too hard. _"All right, then. Introductions."

Jack beamed. He had never had to introduce himself before, and as silly as it may have seemed, he was quite happy to have the opportunity to do so. With one push against the ground, he levitated himself into the air and landed on the tip of his crook, then stood tall, and bowed. "As you've said, I'm Jack Frost. Snowball maker and nap taker extraordinaire." He said with a flourish and a crooked grin.

The woman laughed at his goofy self-analysis. Then, holding out the side of her dress, she gave a small curtsy. "And as _you've _said, I'm Elsa. Queen Elsa of Arendelle."

Jack stepped off of his crook and inspected her once again, eyes glittering with curiosity. "The Snow Queen, right?"

For some reason, hearing him say it made her blush. It wasn't like it was an embarrassing title, and it wasn't that she wasn't used to hearing people call her that… but coming from someone else who could control ice, it kind of sounded like arrogance. One hand fiddled with her braid anxiously as she gave a tiny chuckle. "Well, that's what they call me."

Jack smirked at her nervous response. "And why do they call you that? I'm assuming for that sterling hair and your… unusually icy fashion sense?" He teased, whipping up a wind to twirl through the bottom of her skirts once again.

Elsa laughed at the breeze and held her skirts back down. Good, he didn't seem offended. "What, didn't Heidi tell you about me?"

He shrugged. "She told me a bit. Something about controlling ice and snow, making crystal snowflakes that glow, winter in the summer. But the kid's got a wild imagination. How much was real and how much was seven-year old hysteria, I wonder?"

He was goading her on, of course, and they both knew it. But Elsa was never one to disappoint.

With a thin, crooked grin, she held her hand out in the air, and Jack watched as frost from the area around them began to float into her palm, twisting and twirling until it created a perfect sphere. A snowball.

The woman tossed it to her partner and crossed her arms against her chest. "Satisfied? Self-proclaimed 'snowball maker extraordinaire'?" She asked with a teasing tone.

Jack held the sphere in his hand, weighing it, rotating it, and glancing at it as if he was giving the object a thorough inspection. Naturally it was only a part of his act, but in all honesty, it did make him a bit curious. He'd never seen a mortal who could do that before. "Not bad, not bad." He glanced across to her. Then, in a sudden gust of wind, threw himself into the air and shot the snowball right back at her. "But you're gonna have to do better than that!"

Seeing the snowball heading towards her, Elsa gasped and raised her arms, making a sheet of ice appear from the ground. Then, she looked around the corner of the block – only to see Jack, tossing and catching another snowball in his hand.

She laughed and shrieked as he threw the second one, hid behind her sheet of ice, and crafted a couple snowballs of her own as the boy continued his assault. When her snowballs were ready, she made a path of ice along the garden and slid out onto it, quick as a wit, ice skating in an arc as she made her counter attack.

"Take this!" She said giddily as she threw her first ball.

Not expecting her to move, Jack was caught by surprise, only turning just in time for the snowball to hit him in the chest, while the others hit his back and legs. "Hey! Stay at your base!" He called with fake offense and shot through the air to reach the other side of the garden, meanwhile blowing a cold wind her way to push her off course.

Elsa laughed as caught the wind, stumbling over her feet and falling on her rear onto the ice. Then she grinned, and started to grow a spiral staircase out of ground, making it circle higher and higher around the garden. She got on the first step and threw another snowball. "Make me!"

Jack flew around and around, continually tossing snowballs and breezes her way, and Elsa climbed further up her staircase, shooting flurries and drifts of her own – each laughing wildly whenever they were hit and calling after each other. "Take that!" "Ha, you missed!" "No fair!"

Elsa reached the end of her staircase, and Jack hovered in front of her with a smug smile on his face, preventing her from pushing the stairs any further. "Well, Snow Queen? What now?"

"_"__Well, what're you going to do now, Snow Queen?" _The dark voice whispered to her from the shadows.

But she barely even noticed it. Instead, she took one look at Jack, held her hands up in mock defeat, and jumped off the side of her staircase.

"Wha—" Jack reared back in surprise, eyes growing wide, and flew to the other side of the stairs to catch her – only to see that she'd landed in a huge pile of soft, fluffy snow, and was now giggling like a school girl. Snow was in her hair, all over her dress, covering her from head to toe… and she was absolutely loving it.

The boy felt himself smile and, without a second thought, dove into the pile along with her.

Elsa continued to laugh as he sunk into the snow, but when he didn't come back up, the laughing quickly faded away. She looked down at the place he'd dropped. "Jack?" She reached out to dig through the surface – but just as she did, his head popped through the top of the pile like a groundhog through the earth, snow bunched atop his crystal white hair like a hat. And, she noticed as she glanced farther down his face, covering his upper lip, resembling an extremely bushy mustache.

The queen had never thought she would ever use the word "guffaw" to describe her own laugh, but when she started to bray after seeing his face, that's all anyone could call it. Jack cocked his head in confusion, causing some of the snow on his head and the left part of his lip to fall away.

"What? What is it?"

She held a hand to her mouth to stifle some of her laughter and looked to him out of the corner of her eye, still giggling. Then, with her other hand, she held out one finger and used it to wipe the rest of the snow away from his face. "Nice mustache, Duke of Weselton."

When she touched him, Jack looked down at her finger and blushed. Then, as she pulled it away, he grinned and started to pull himself out of the snow. "Who?"

Elsa sighed contentedly. "Oh, nothing. A dignitary I knew."

Once he was out of his groundhog hole, Jack sat cross legged in the snow beside Elsa and shook his head like a dog, getting the rest of the powder out of his hair and onto Elsa in exchange. She winced and held up her hands, but snickered anyway. Then the boy got up, dug his crook out of the pile as well, and used it to propel himself into the air above them.

"Well, that's proof enough for me. Congratulations, you deserve your title." The boy said, sank to the ground, and gave another mocking bow.

Elsa pulled herself out of the snow as well, looked back at the pile, and with a twirl of her finger, turned it to water and cast it into the sky as vapor. Jack blinked in surprise as she did. He'd never tried _thawing _snow. _I wonder…._

"You deserve a title yourself." She said and dusted off her hands. When she did, she was reminded of the one that Heidi had given him – _Snow Prince_. Her smoky blue eyes took on a glimmer of humor as she looked him up and down. He seemed so young. In fact, everything about him screamed youth and energy; the sway of his hair as it fell in front of his eyes, the bounce in his step and the buoyancy of his movement, the shine of his smile, even the way he spoke – everything he said came out as either a tease or a cheer, laughter in all of his words. She'd met a lot of princes since Arendelle started allowing visiting royalty, but never one quite like him. Imagining him in a prince's rigid suit, Elsa chuckled to herself.

Jack put his hands on his hips, confused again, wondering what this girl was thinking about. Heidi had been too excited to tell him much about Elsa, but what she had told him hadn't been near enough to prepare him for meeting her. Frankly, when she said that it was a woman called the Snow Queen who could actually control snow and ice, he'd expected someone much… icier. Elsa, despite the temperature of her skin and the gift she possessed, was warm. Her eyes were warm, her laugh was warm. And she was mature, too. Now that they'd stopped playing and she was standing tall, he saw the way she carried herself, the regality of her posture. Even though Jack knew he was older than her, he couldn't help but feel like a kid as she looked him up and down. Then, he realized what she was thinking, and a tiny sneer appeared on his face.

"Oh great. Heidi told you about the 'Snow Prince' thing, huh?"

Elsa looked back to him. "What?" _Oh crap, I gave it away. _The girl closed her eyes and turned her head, feigning innocence. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"She did, didn't she? That little…." Jack growled, starting to blush and gritting his teeth. Heidi had stuck him with that nickname about a year ago when he'd finally conceded to playing "Princes and Princesses" with her, and no matter how many times he talked to her about it, she never let it go. "Listen, I am not a prince, alright? 'Prince' implies 'royalty', 'royalty' implies 'responsibility'. And 'responsibility' implies 'boring'. I am not a prince."

"I never called you a prince," Elsa said, turning away and raising her hands, beginning to thaw the garden, a tiny smirk on her face as she did so.

"But you were thinking it…" The boy said, feeling annoyed as he watched her melt her handiwork. "Princes are so rigid and stiff, always sitting in their castles and eating dinner with fancy forks and doing paperwork. You ask me to sit still in a desk for an hour and all you're gonna get is a frozen desk. I am _not_ a prince, alright?"

_Well, he's not completely wrong, _Elsa thought, going over the princes she knew in her mind. Most of them were as rigid and stiff as he said. But as she thought this, a different question appeared in her mind, making her turn back to see him as the final pieces of melted frost flew out of the garden and into the sky.

"Then what are you?"

_Are you human, or something else? Are you confused and alone? Are you like me?_

Jack opened his mouth to speak, but caught himself, his words falling back in his throat. Would she believe him if he said he was a spirit? Would she be afraid if he said he wasn't human – or rather, that he didn't even know what he was?

The boy looked down and put his hands in his pockets, kicking at a stone in the garden. "I told you. Snowball maker, nap taker."

Elsa furrowed her brow, watching as Jack grabbed his crook once again and returned to the air.

The boy thought for a second, then looked down. "I've gotta go."

Elsa stopped, staring at him. "Why?"

"I… I just do. I'll be back another day." He gave her a tiny smile and began to fly away from the castle.

He was leaving? Elsa watched him go, reaching after him. "Wait!"

Jack halted midair and looked back to her.

"Where can I find you if I want to see you again?"

The man gave another toothy grin. "I'll find you!"

**xxxxxxxxxxxx**

**Hi guys! FightForLife here. Just wanted to say/clear up a few things :3**

**First of all, thank you so much for reading the first three chapters of Snow Prince! I'm glad it's receiving a positive response, and I hope this chapter will be liked just as much as the last two ^ _ ^**

**Secondly, I wanted to talk about the "POV" switches. Since the story is written in third person, there really isn't any "POV" at one time or another, as the story is narrated by neither Elsa nor Jack Frost, but as you may have noticed, the main subject of the story and the person whose eyes we're looking through will indeed switch from Elsa to Jack now and again. This is because they are both equally interesting and compelling characters who are each experiencing their own troubles and developing in their own ways throughout the story, so I want to express that and use it to further entertain you as the audience. Mostly, though, we will be seeing things through Elsa's eyes. I'm sorry if it gets confusing at times, I'll try and make the switches easily distinguishable ^ _ ^ ;;**

**And thirdly, I'd like to clarify the time period. People know that Jack Frost was "reborn" sometime around 1798, since he had been living as Jackson Overland around the time of the creation of his hometown, Burgess (which was founded in 1798), but nobody really knows when Frozen takes place. So, for the time period of the story, we're going with 1845 – the year that the book Frozen was based off of, "The Snow Queen", was published. It matches the post-Napoleonic era that the movie seems to take place in, so I figured, why not. **

**If anyone finds any issue with either the POV switches or the time period, please let me know and I'll clarify what I can. Again, thank you so much for reading the story, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :D **


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